Tag: Gorey 3-Day

Saturday saw an extremely tough stage1 at the Gorey 3Day for all riders as they battled some nasty weather right from the start. A very early crash caught out Darren and he did well to get back on and make it to the finish. John was also unlucky to puncture and battled his way back up through the cars to the bunch. The stage was won in Craanford by Robert O’Leary of the Irish Junior team.

Stage2 on Sunday was an extended 5 lap circuit from Gorey – Craanford – Camolin as there was no Time Trial stage this year. It was a reduced field as the previous day’s early crash and tough conditions had taken their toll on several riders, including our own Darren Davitt, leaving John Whyte the sole GoreyCC participant. Michael Devins of Barrow Wheelers prevailed in the sprint to the line, with no major changes at the top of the general classification. Robert O’Leary of the Irish Junior Team still held onto the yellow jersey.

It was set up for a thrilling bunch sprint to round off an exciting final stage of the Gorey 3Day on the run in to Blessington. However Junior Eoghan McLoughlin of Westport Covey, in a late attack off the front, took the spoils with 2″ to the rest of the field. Veteran Andrew O’Hara, who also spent a lot of stage 2 in a solo break, drove a couple of the day’s breaks at a fierce pace. At one point he was GC leader on the road and was a real threat to Ireland Junior Robert O’Leary who wore the yellow jersey all weekend. The Ireland Junior team had to work hard chasing down the breaks all the way to the finish to guarantee their team-mate overall victory.

John Whyte, finished the stage in 17th place 02″ down on the winner and placed 58th in the overall GC. The team want to thank the crew, all the support personnel, race organisers and road marshals who make the 3Day one of the best events on the Irish calendar.

This Easter weekend sees the 50th edition of the Gorey 3-Day cycle race. Gorey Cycling Club are proud to have 2 of its members, John Whyte and Darren Davitt (pictured) taking part in this years event. The lads will be managed by Derek Webb along with a support crew of GoreyCC members.

Stage one on Easter Saturday is 103km, following the route from St. Kevins Community Centre, Blessington Co. Wicklow to Gorey and finishing in Craanford. There is a change to this years format with only one longer stage on the Sunday, 120km comprising of 5 laps of a loop between Gorey, Craanford and Camolin. Monday will see the riders depart Gorey for the return trip back to Blessington, a journey of 91km.

While we had a good contingent competing in Carlow at the Des Hanlon Memorial on Sunday last, GoreyCC’s Joe Christian (pictured in background) travelled all the way to Blarney for his race. A tough, fast race saw Joe finish just outside the top placings.

In Carlow, John and Darren were looking to get in some good race miles before the upcoming Gorey 3Day. Darren did well to get back on to the second group over the line after being brought down on the final climb, while John finished ahead in the main bunch. Well done also to Brendan who competed in the A4 event.

Our 3 man team rode a very good race and both Joe Christian and Murt Doyle went into Monday’s final stage in very strong positions. Joe was lying in 12th overall after 3 stages, while Murt was only 3 seconds behind in 15th, so they were very confident in improving on that over the final leg from Gorey back to Blessington. John Whyte lay further back in the field after suffering an injury on Saturday’s Stage 1.

Joe got into a group of 6 riders who were over 20 seconds ahead of the main bunch for a good portion of the stage. They were eventually caught close to Blessington so everyone was gearing up for a bunch sprint finish. However, there was a crash near the front with about 3km to go, which John managed to avoid, but unluckily, Joe and Murt got held up behind it and lost some time on the leaders.

Joe’s final placing was a very respectable 35th with Murt just behind in 38th. John improved on his earlier position and finished the race in 107th place. The club would like to thank all who helped out over the weekend, including those directly assisting the riders in the support vehicles led by Derek Webb, all who marshalled the traffic along the course and the club sponsors for all their encouragement and assistance. Bring on 3Day 2016!

Sunday morning saw the first of two stages taking place that day. First up was the Time Trial from Clogh into Gorey. We saw great performances from Murt, John and Joe in the with Joe clocking an impressive 8’02” and Murt catching his minute man with a time of 8’06” placing them 11th and 16th respectively for the stage. John clocked 9’16” for 133rd in the TT.

Stage 3 took place Sunday afternoon. It was a 4 lap circuit between Gorey, Craanford and Camolin with a distance of 96km. There were several attacks off the front, but nothing stuck for long and it came down to a bunch sprint in the end with Henri Jung from the french team Vceckwersheim taking the spoils. All the GoreyCC lads finished comfortably in the main field.

Monday’s final Stage 4 sees Joe lying in 12th overall, 2’17” down on the leader and Murt only 3 seconds behind him in 15th overall. John will start Stage 4 in 117th overall.

Stage 1 of the Irish Road Club’s Gorey 3 Day saw the riders start out from Blessington, Co. Wicklow travelling through Hacketstown, Tinahely, Carnew, Camolin and Gorey with a finish on the hill in Craanford. A break of 8 riders got away after the Hackettstown climb and 5 of these stayed away to the finish line. The stage was decided when Darragh O’ Mahony and Michael O’Loughlin left the break on the last lap to contest the sprint which was won on the climb by O’Mahony with O’Loughlin 2nd and Henry J Jung of the French VC Eckwersheim Team beating the remainder of the break to come across the line in 3rd place.

GoreyCC’s Joe Christian attacked off the front of the main bunch with about 10km to go but was reeled back in and both Joe and Murt Doyle finished comfortably in the main bunch just 1’43” down on the stage winner. John Whyte was unlucky to cramp on the final circuit of Craanford, but managed to get to the finish.

A massive thank you to all who helped out in the run up and during the race, particularly the road marshalls and also to Craanford Community Centre for the use of their facilities at the finish.

This Easter weekend sees Gorey once again hosting the annual Gorey 3-Day cycle race. The event will follow the traditional route to Gorey from St. Kevins Community Centre, Blessington Co. Wicklow on Easter Saturday. Two stages will take place on Easter Sunday with a Time Trail stage on the Enniscorthy Road just outside Gorey in the morning and several laps of a loop between Gorey, Craanford and Camolin in the afternoon. Monday will see the riders depart Gorey for the return trip back to Blessington.

Gorey Cycling Club are proud to be among the 200 entrants with 3 of its members, Murt Doyle, John Whyte and Joe Christian taking part. The lads have been training hard and honing their skills at races nationwide over the last couple of months, hoping to put in a strong performance on the day in a very competitive field.

The Irish Road Club has been running the The Gorey 3-Day since 1966. It was originally a two day race, first held on St. Patrick’s weekend of that year. Back then it was a case of “entering on the line” with 67 riders braving it out that first weekend. Since then it has grown to be one of the most prominent races on the Irish calendar, developing into a 3-Day race with some now famous riders and winners such as Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche and attracting entrants from the UK and Europe. IRC’s chief club member Alice Sherratt has been organising the race in it’s current format for several years now.